Description

Concert featuring male voices around Holy Week.<div> During the reign of Louis XIV, city and court were accustomed to a profusion of lavish spectacles, offering the illusion of endless revelry. Only Lent suspended the laughter of comedy and the marvels of stage machinery. The extravagance of secular scenes then gave way to the intimate, mysterious splendors of this time of reflection. The French taste for beautiful song and intense passions continued in the motets of Holy Week, where the drama of human solitude in the face of the apparent loss of all hope is played out.</div><div><br></div><div> The origin of Charpentier's Lenten Meditations is unknown; however, their writing for three male voices links them to some of his Tenebrae Lessons, intended for male singers. This attraction to the lower register reinforces the twilight feeling associated with the themes of repentance and desolation that run through Scripture. The Tenebrae ceremony is well-known: as the chants progress, the church's dimness gradually gives way to total darkness as the candles illuminating the choir are extinguished one by one. Normally held around three in the morning, the service was moved to coincide with concert times for the Parisian public, who came to revel in these sonic gems. A brief interlude, before the awakening of Easter, into the unknown of the night.</div><div><br></div><div> Having explored the secrets of Darkness with Lalande, Cavalieri, and Couperin, Le Poème Harmonique, with Charpentier, enters the now-familiar atmosphere of Holy Week. The intense colors of the male voices make this chiaroscuro tableau all the more striking.</div><div><br></div>